No. No. No. Artist Dustin Yellin announces he has shred $10,000 in cash to create eight paintings, each priced at $10,000. Proceeds will go towards the creation of scholarships for high-school seniors interested in pursuing a career in art. This is such an obvious marketing play. The intended spectacle barely seems visible. [Observer]

Sotheby’s isn’t doing so well. After a year of public battles with activist investor Dan Loeb, the publicly traded auction house admits to spending $21.4 million to cover costs related to the Loeb debacle. [Bloomberg]

Oh, so this is how Reddit plans to make money: reality TV. Along with Wired, the community board will produce the show Cyborg Nation which will focus on real people who use cybernetic devices. [Tube Filter]

Currently tearing up the internet: A woodpecker carrying a weasel on its back. [BBC via: @nutblack1]

Some Sacramento residents are pissed that New York-based Jeff Koons has been commissioned to produce a public artwork rather than a local artist. In response, city spokesperson Linda Tucker told local news station Fox 40 that neither the panel that selected Koons nor the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission “are obligated to review multiple proposals. Their mission is to choose the very best, not discriminate by region." Doesn’t this sound like a familiar argument? See: “I don’t see race or gender, only quality!” [Artnet News]

The Wu-Tang Clan released a never-to-be-heard-again work of art at PS1 last night. The album’s producer Cilvaringz noted how its inspiration came partially from a night he and RZA spent riding on horseback around the pyramids of Giza. Like all music, it’ll probably get leaked once it’s bought at online auction. [ARTnews]

A tree called Prometheus took root more than 5,000 years ago. It weathered unknown adversity throughout those years, before finally being cut down in 1964 so a scientist could study its rings. Its longevity, no small miracle, was ultimately the cause of its death. In 2011, artist Jeffrey Weiss took up the task of recreating the tree through drawings, digital renderings, and 3D models. This story, which has nothing to do with the market, a mega-gallerist, or collector, graced the front page of the Los Angeles Times this weekend. That’s another miracle, courtesy of Carolina A. Miranda. [The Los Angeles Times]

If you haven't been to a poetry reading recently, or ever, here's one you can attend without leaving the Internet. Co-presented by the New Museum and Rhizome, "Poetry as Practice" features six Mondays of poems by Melissa Broder, Tan Lin, as well as someone named ‘not_I.’ [Rhizome]

]]>

No. No. No. Artist Dustin Yellin announces he has shred $10,000 in cash to create eight paintings, each priced at $10,000. Proceeds will go towards the creation of scholarships for high-school seniors interested in pursuing a career in art. This is such an obvious marketing play. The intended spectacle barely seems visible. [Observer]

Sotheby’s isn’t doing so well. After a year of public battles with activist investor Dan Loeb, the publicly traded auction house admits to spending $21.4 million to cover costs related to the Loeb debacle. [Bloomberg]

Oh, so this is how Reddit plans to make money: reality TV. Along with Wired, the community board will produce the show Cyborg Nation which will focus on real people who use cybernetic devices. [Tube Filter]

Currently tearing up the internet: A woodpecker carrying a weasel on its back. [BBC via: @nutblack1]

Some Sacramento residents are pissed that New York-based Jeff Koons has been commissioned to produce a public artwork rather than a local artist. In response, city spokesperson Linda Tucker told local news station Fox 40 that neither the panel that selected Koons nor the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission “are obligated to review multiple proposals. Their mission is to choose the very best, not discriminate by region.” Doesn’t this sound like a familiar argument? See: “I don’t see race or gender, only quality!” [Artnet News]

The Wu-Tang Clan released a never-to-be-heard-again work of art at PS1 last night. The album’s producer Cilvaringz noted how its inspiration came partially from a night he and RZA spent riding on horseback around the pyramids of Giza. Like all music, it’ll probably get leaked once it’s bought at online auction. [ARTnews]

A tree called Prometheus took root more than 5,000 years ago. It weathered unknown adversity throughout those years, before finally being cut down in 1964 so a scientist could study its rings. Its longevity, no small miracle, was ultimately the cause of its death. In 2011, artist Jeffrey Weiss took up the task of recreating the tree through drawings, digital renderings, and 3D models. This story, which has nothing to do with the market, a mega-gallerist, or collector, graced the front page of the Los Angeles Times this weekend. That’s another miracle, courtesy of Carolina A. Miranda. [The Los Angeles Times]

If you haven’t been to a poetry reading recently, or ever, here’s one you can attend without leaving the Internet. Co-presented by the New Museum and Rhizome, “Poetry as Practice” features six Mondays of poems by Melissa Broder, Tan Lin, as well as someone named ‘not_I.’ [Rhizome]

]]>http://artfcity.com/2015/03/03/tuesday-links-unleashing-the-army-of-me/feed/0GIF of the Day: Jim Punk, Simple Net Art Diagram Remixhttp://artfcity.com/2015/03/02/gif-of-the-day-jim-punk-simple-net-art-diagram-remix/
http://artfcity.com/2015/03/02/gif-of-the-day-jim-punk-simple-net-art-diagram-remix/#commentsMon, 02 Mar 2015 23:06:40 +0000http://artfcity.com/?p=71302
In 1997 the art making duo MTAA produced an animated GIF that functioned as an artist statement, a manifesto, and a call to action. "Simple Net Art Diagram" locates art in the exchange of ideas, and invites other people to propose their own definitions for art. It's a simple challenge, but one that's proved meaningful to artists again and again since they made it close to twenty years ago. We'll be surveying those GIFs next week, but in a preview of the post to come, here's what artist Jim Punk did to remix the GIF in 2006 (slightly remixed to fit the column width of Art F City.) We like it.
]]>

In 1997 the art making duo MTAA produced an animated GIF that functioned as an artist statement, a manifesto, and a call to action. “Simple Net Art Diagram” locates art in the exchange of ideas, and invites other people to propose their own definitions for art. It’s a simple challenge, but one that’s proved meaningful to artists again and again since they made it close to twenty years ago. We’ll be surveying those GIFs next week, but in a preview of the post to come, here’s what artist Jim Punk did to remix the GIF in 2006 (slightly remixed to fit the column width of Art F City.) We like it.

In 2011, Art F City devised a bingo card for The Armory Show. Though trends may come and go, four years later, we can expect much of the same from the art fairs.

Bad news for those planning to do anything other than look at art this week: Your week is fucked. It’s Armory Week, which for art professionals and lovers alike means a marathon of art-viewing practically guaranteed to hurt your eyes at some point. There’s treatment for these kinds of injuries, but the best advice we can offer is to simply be careful out there.

Wed

Park Avenue Armory

The ADAA Art Show

Photo by Timothy Lee Photography, 2014

The grand dame of the ball has to be the Art Dealers Association of America’s Art Show, now in its 27th year. You can almost smell the pearls and caviar in the air at this quiet, traditional Upper East Side fair. Or maybe that’s the gardenias. Last year, Paddy documented all the fancy-schmancy floral arrangements set inside the dealers’ booths. Change comes slowly to art fairs, not to mention the Upper East Side, so expect to see more of the same bouquets this year. Though the work featured here tends to be on the safer side—i.e., solo booths of artists who’ve already had museum retrospectives—we are looking forward to P.P.O.W.’s collection of work by Anton van Dalen, a longtime resident of the East Village who will be showing his critical yet whimsical charcoal drawings.

Skylight at Moynihan Station

SPRING/BREAK Art Show

Technically, this is not an art fair. Curators are invited to select their own artists based on a yearly theme; the works happen to be for sale. Depending on the curators, the fair’s quality can be scattershot: sometimes good, sometimes “meh.” This year, make sure to re-geolocate your addresses in Google Maps; Spring/Break has switched locations from the Old School in Nolita to Moynihan Station in Midtown.

Spring/Break 2015 will include work selected by over 80 curators, including Bruce High Quality Foundation University, Craig Poor Monteith, Jacob Rhodes, Eve Sussman, and Dustin Yellin.

Thu

Piers 92 & 94

The Armory Show

What more can be said of the dreaded Armory? Every year, we see the same shiny Anish Kapoor hole-sculptures, blank-faced Julian Opies, and gallery dealers complaining about standing around for hours in uncomfortable shoes. This year’s edition probably won’t look or feel much different. Our expectations are low.

Pier 36

art on paper

Do we need another art fair in New York? Well, we’re getting one in art on paper, set to debut this year in Tribeca. These works are on paper, so they should be more affordable than that big hunk of Richard Serra that’ll be on view at Gagosian. Random fact: you’ll be able to see a Dave Eggers drawing of a long-eared rabbit. The fair marks the sixth in a chain of national fairs run by Art Market Productions (Miami Project, Texas Contemporary, Art Market San Francisco, Seattle Art Fair, and Market Art + Design.)

548 West 22nd Street

Independent

The Independent has come a long way in its five-year existence. What began as a free, alternative fair by dealer Elizabeth Dee and Darren Flook has evolved into a $20 per ticket showcase boasting over 50 galleries and nonprofits from 14 different countries, including Armory vets Sprüth Magers, Peres Projects, and Gavin Brown’s Enterprise. That isn’t to say the fair has changed much: it’s still located at 548 West 22nd Street, still “boothless,” and still the go-to place for tie-dye fabric triptychs, cannabis imagery, and, relatedly, dolphin comics. What began as an offbeat fair alternative has since developed its own brand of tasteful-to-a-fault international galleries.

You can track the history of this fair’s transformation in our past reviews (2014, 2013, 2012, 2011). Our excitement noticeably dims in 2013, but, IMO, you can still find some gems amid the generics. (Corinna)

Waterfront New York Tunnel

Moving Image

This is the fair we like the best, even if we don’t quite understand how the business model works out for those involved. A typical experience for the average Moving Image visitor looks something like this: 1. Viewer sits down. 2. Viewer watches art videos for a couple of hours.

Dealers don’t hover. The vibe is chill. All that’s great, but we keep hearing that sales are inconsistent at the Moving Image. How can that be true? They’ve been around for five years and have recently expanded to Istanbul and Jerusalem.

The Metropolitan Pavilion

Pulse New York

It’s unclear what to expect to see at Pulse these days—middling contemporary art with a few highlights here and there? Helen Toomer has been at the helm of Pulse for a year now, so we’d hoped to see a few more changes at the fair—better exhibitors being number one. Looks like that’s not happening this year, though. A quick look at their site shows only a few destination galleries, including Transfer, LMAKprojects, and the Lower East Side Print Shop. That’s not a lot of reasons to go but certainly enough to check out what’s on view.

Pier 90

Volta

The art fair that most resembles a corporation, Volta has been housed inside offices owned by Merchandise Mart for years. You can imagine how great contemporary art by emerging artists looks under a short roof and modular ceiling tiles. But now that Merchandise Mart has sold the fair, it’s located on Pier 90—surely a venue upgrade. It’s hard, though, to entirely shed one’s roots. So, while on the one hand you have panels that update more conservative programming, the description of the fair itself couldn’t be more generic: “VOLTA NY was conceived in 2008 as a focused, curated, boutique event that is a place for discovery.” I, for one, can’t wait to visit this wondrous land of discovery.

Self-serving plug here: “Art in the Cloud,” a panel on collecting digital art, moderated by Paddy Johnson, featuring Stefan Simchowitz, Kelani Nichole, David Diamond, and Myriam Vanneschi, takes place at Volta on Saturday at 4:30.

Scope New York

508 - 526 West 26th Street

Clio Art Fair

Self-described as “the anti-fair for independent artists,” none of Clio’s participants have gallery representation. We don’t know anything about any of the artists, but the fair’s landing page shows an eyeless head with yarn-like hair atop a white Pez dispenser. Its tongue is stuck out, as if to say “Come visit me!”

Woo! Art F City has been nominated for the “best blog” award by the International Association of Art Critics (AICA-USA), a 400-plus member organization for art critics, historians, and academics active since 1950. We’re in good company in the “best blog” category (haberarts.com by John Haber, The Silo by Raphael Rubinstein, Hyperallergic, Big Red & Shiny: Our Daily Red, and Newcity Art).

BEST SHOW IN A COMMERCIAL SPACE IN NEW YORK
— Nancy Grossman: The Edge of Always, Constructions from the 1960s / Michael
Rosenfeld Gallery, New York
— Robert Longo / “Gang of Cosmos” / Metro Pictures, New York and “Strike the Sun” / Petzel Gallery, New York
— Picasso and Jacqueline: The Evolution of Style / Pace Gallery, New York
— Stan Douglas: Luanda-Kinshasa / David Zwirner, New York
— Katherine Bernhardt: Stupid, Crazy, Ridiculous, Funny Patterns / CANADA, New
York
— Une Danse des Bouffons (or A jester’s dance) by Marcel Dzama / David Zwirner,
New York
— Allen Ruppersberg / Greene Naftali, New York
— Robert Rauschenberg: The Fulton Street Studio, 1953–54 / Craig F. Starr, New
York

Dog burritos. Corinna prefers the pug that looks like an Ewok. Paul prefers the puppy that is wrapped in an actual tortilla. Paddy wonders what the selection criteria we’re all using, and would agree with Paul if there wasn’t the worry that puppy could accidentally be eaten. Given that that’s the case, Paddy chooses the terrier wrapped in leopard print. [Sad and Useless]

After being cleared of phone-hacking charges, media maverick Rebekah Brooks is making headlines again. It is rumored that she will be rehired by Rupert Murdoch to head up the social-networking news site Storyful. Terrifying. [The Guardian]

What makes a movie bad ass? A thoroughly convincing essay on the subject. [The Weeklings]

Triennial reviews are coming out: AFC’s discussion of individual works includes this zinger from Corinna Kirsch “Panels leaning against pedestals. Where am I? An art fair?”. Over at artnet News, Paddy Johnson discuss the Triennial’s obsession with the figure. Holland Cotter at the New York Times says the show adds up to some of the most distinctive art of the past decade. Hyperallergic’s Thomas Micchelli finds the show lacks excitement, and its focus on technology given its ubiquitous presence “feels dated and even a little clueless.” Also at Hyperallergic, Benjamin Sutton found it too crowded. Art Agenda’s Andrew Stefan Weiner says the show looks like a Tumblr and has mixed feelings on its success. On the one hand there’s curatorial legerdemain. On the other, not all the works live up to artist and curator Ryan Trecartin’s example. ARTnews’s Andrew Russeth thinks the Triennial shows that “new ideas are on the rise,” and over at Christie’s, Brienne Walsh doesn’t think the show’s got enough cohesion. Given the number of cohesive moments identified by other critics, Walsh’s thesis is the most easily challenged of them all. [The Internet]

Paul Chan’s Hugo Boss Prize exhibition gets a nod from Holland Cotter at the Times. The reason why, though, remains a bit convoluted. “Mr. Chan’s work is always surprising and as smart as art gets, which means, among other things, that it’s smart enough not to always give us the art we think we want.” [The New York Times]

Yet another adventure in the life of the rich and famous. Swiss business magnate Yves Bouvier has been charged with fraud and money laundering for allegedly inflating the prices of Picasso, Modigliani, Gauguins; those works were then sold to Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev, who, if it matters to you, owns the Greek island of Skorpios, purchased from the Onassis family. [Luxembourger Wort]

In Bushwick, the Roberta’s Pizza Empire is crumbling. One of the three restaurant’s owners has split off, and is seeking $5.4 million for his stake in the company. [Brooklyn Magazine via New York Post]

Meet Andy Warhol’s family, the Warholas. They’re kickstarting a film called Uncle Andy—with your help! Now, for the low price of $2,500, you too can own a “Rusyn Tradition Decorated Ostrich Egg” painted by Warhol’s niece Madalen. Abby Warhola is apparently well trained in the art of the selfie. [Artforum]

Marina Abramovic is publishing a memoir. If you’re curious why the artist has decided to release a tell-all of her life in the former Yugoslavia, this is indeed about giving people “the courage to do the things they’re afraid to do in their own lives.” [Arts Beat]

]]>

Dog burritos. Corinna prefers the pug that looks like an Ewok. Paul prefers the puppy that is wrapped in an actual tortilla. Paddy wonders what the selection criteria we’re all using, and would agree with Paul if there wasn’t the worry that puppy could accidentally be eaten. Given that that’s the case, Paddy chooses the terrier wrapped in leopard print. [Sad and Useless]

After being cleared of phone-hacking charges, media maverick Rebekah Brooks is making headlines again. It is rumored that she will be rehired by Rupert Murdoch to head up the social-networking news site Storyful. Terrifying. [The Guardian]

What makes a movie bad ass? A thoroughly convincing essay on the subject. [The Weeklings]

Triennial reviews are coming out: AFC’s discussion of individual works includes this zinger from Corinna Kirsch “Panels leaning against pedestals. Where am I? An art fair?”. Over at artnet News, Paddy Johnson discuss the Triennial’s obsession with the figure. Holland Cotter at the New York Times says the show adds up to some of the most distinctive art of the past decade. Hyperallergic’s Thomas Micchelli finds the show lacks excitement, and its focus on technology given its ubiquitous presence “feels dated and even a little clueless.” Also at Hyperallergic, Benjamin Sutton found it too crowded. Art Agenda’s Andrew Stefan Weiner says the show looks like a Tumblr and has mixed feelings on its success. On the one hand there’s curatorial legerdemain. On the other, not all the works live up to artist and curator Ryan Trecartin’s example. ARTnews’s Andrew Russeth thinks the Triennial shows that “new ideas are on the rise,” and over at Christie’s, Brienne Walsh doesn’t think the show’s got enough cohesion. Given the number of cohesive moments identified by other critics, Walsh’s thesis is the most easily challenged of them all. [The Internet]

Paul Chan’s Hugo Boss Prize exhibition gets a nod from Holland Cotter at the Times. The reason why, though, remains a bit convoluted. “Mr. Chan’s work is always surprising and as smart as art gets, which means, among other things, that it’s smart enough not to always give us the art we think we want.” [The New York Times]

Yet another adventure in the life of the rich and famous. Swiss business magnate Yves Bouvier has been charged with fraud and money laundering for allegedly inflating the prices of Picasso, Modigliani, Gauguins; those works were then sold to Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev, who, if it matters to you, owns the Greek island of Skorpios, purchased from the Onassis family. [Luxembourger Wort]

In Bushwick, the Roberta’s Pizza Empire is crumbling. One of the three restaurant’s owners has split off, and is seeking $5.4 million for his stake in the company. [Brooklyn Magazine via New York Post]

Meet Andy Warhol’s family, the Warholas. They’re kickstarting a film called Uncle Andy—with your help! Now, for the low price of $2,500, you too can own a “Rusyn Tradition Decorated Ostrich Egg” painted by Warhol’s niece Madalen. Abby Warhola is apparently well trained in the art of the selfie. [Artforum]

Marina Abramovic is publishing a memoir. If you’re curious why the artist has decided to release a tell-all of her life in the former Yugoslavia, this is indeed about giving people “the courage to do the things they’re afraid to do in their own lives.” [Arts Beat]

]]>http://artfcity.com/2015/03/02/monday-links-dog-burritos-rated/feed/0GIF of the Day: Rafaël Rozendaal’s Times Square Projecthttp://artfcity.com/2015/02/27/gif-of-the-day-rafael-rozendaals-times-square-project/
http://artfcity.com/2015/02/27/gif-of-the-day-rafael-rozendaals-times-square-project/#commentsFri, 27 Feb 2015 23:03:08 +0000http://artfcity.com/?p=71314Times Square Midnight Moment GIFs to end your day with even more eye-tripping.
GIF courtesy of the Daily Mail.]]>

Weed the people have declared their opinions in Washington, D.C., where residents can now possess, transfer, or grow their own green stuff without getting in trouble with the law. Here’s a handy chart pointing out the finer details of what you can and can’t do. [WTOP]

Islamic State militants took sledgehammers to the Mosul Museum in Iraq. The museum was first seized in June, when IS took over Mosul. Yesterday, the ISIS media office published a video showing the destruction of statues. In it, a man says, “The monuments that you can see behind me are but statues and idols of people from previous centuries, which they used to worship instead of God.” Iconoclasm it is. [The New York Times]

I (Paddy) am outraged, outraged, at the inaccuracies in March’s Taurus art horoscope. According to the horoscope experts over at Hyperallergic I’m slated to give away house and home! [Hyperallergic]

I (Corinna) am outraged, virulently outraged, at the inaccuracies in March’s Virgo art horoscope. I’m set to have a “trying month,” but I’ll pull through thanks to my friends and colleagues. March is going to suck for me! [Hyperallergic]

Okay, who’s been following “the dress” fiasco? Some people see a dress colored white and gold, others see the dress as black and blue. The debate has steamrolled the internet—Buzzfeed announced yesterday that their post on the subject broke record traffic numbers on their site. What to make of the discord? Over here at the AFC offices we speculated that monitor calibration was the issue. (Last night I identified the dress color as blue and brown, a color combination nobody has debated, but today, on a different monitor, the dress looked white and gold.) Wired explains that the difference in perception has to do with the background color—your eye projects those colors on the dress. Then they printed the picture out. [Wired]

The Hello Kitty Cafe and Restaurant has nearly all its food shaped or stamped with Hello Kitty’s face on it. That is all. [Google]

According to the Artprice annual report, global art sales have increased by 300 percent over the last decade. [The Telegraph]

One of the stranger interviews you’ll read: Ali Wong is a curator and Wong Kit Yi is an artist. They share the same body. This is an interview with both. [Asympote]

Weed the people have declared their opinions in Washington, D.C., where residents can now possess, transfer, or grow their own green stuff without getting in trouble with the law. Here’s a handy chart pointing out the finer details of what you can and can’t do. [WTOP]

Islamic State militants took sledgehammers to the Mosul Museum in Iraq. The museum was first seized in June, when IS took over Mosul. Yesterday, the ISIS media office published a video showing the destruction of statues. In it, a man says, “The monuments that you can see behind me are but statues and idols of people from previous centuries, which they used to worship instead of God.” Iconoclasm it is. [The New York Times]

I (Paddy) am outraged, outraged, at the inaccuracies in March’s Taurus art horoscope. According to the horoscope experts over at Hyperallergic I’m slated to give away house and home! [Hyperallergic]

I (Corinna) am outraged, virulently outraged, at the inaccuracies in March’s Virgo art horoscope. I’m set to have a “trying month,” but I’ll pull through thanks to my friends and colleagues. March is going to suck for me! [Hyperallergic]

Okay, who’s been following “the dress” fiasco? Some people see a dress colored white and gold, others see the dress as black and blue. The debate has steamrolled the internet—Buzzfeed announced yesterday that their post on the subject broke record traffic numbers on their site. What to make of the discord? Over here at the AFC offices we speculated that monitor calibration was the issue. (Last night I identified the dress color as blue and brown, a color combination nobody has debated, but today, on a different monitor, the dress looked white and gold.) Wired explains that the difference in perception has to do with the background color—your eye projects those colors on the dress. Then they printed the picture out. [Wired]

The Hello Kitty Cafe and Restaurant has nearly all its food shaped or stamped with Hello Kitty’s face on it. That is all. [Google]

According to the Artprice annual report, global art sales have increased by 300 percent over the last decade. [The Telegraph]

One of the stranger interviews you’ll read: Ali Wong is a curator and Wong Kit Yi is an artist. They share the same body. This is an interview with both. [Asympote]

]]>http://artfcity.com/2015/02/27/friday-links-food-lovers-iconoclasts-and-horoscope-haters/feed/0GIF of the Day: The Art Happens Herehttp://artfcity.com/2015/02/26/gif-of-the-day-the-art-happens-here/
http://artfcity.com/2015/02/26/gif-of-the-day-the-art-happens-here/#commentsThu, 26 Feb 2015 23:19:57 +0000http://artfcity.com/?p=71295
Here's a blast from the past: The Commons Art Diagram builds upon MTAA's 1997 GIF, "The Art Happens Here", and illustrates where ‘art happens’ or ‘could happen". The piece was included in The Art Happens Here exhibition as part of the iCommons Summit ‘07, which I attended in 2007 in Dubrovnik. It was printed on t-shirts, bags and stickers and distributed to conference attendees. This is not a GIF, but is included in our series because it builds on one.]]>

Here’s a blast from the past: The Commons Art Diagram builds upon MTAA’s 1997 GIF, “The Art Happens Here“, and illustrates where ‘art happens’ or ‘could happen”. The piece was included in The Art Happens Here exhibition as part of the iCommons Summit ‘07, which I attended in 2007 in Dubrovnik. It was printed on t-shirts, bags and stickers and distributed to conference attendees. This is not a GIF, but is included in our series because it builds on one.

Corinna: As the elevator doors slide open to the second floor entrance of Surround Audience, you’ll be confronted with a shiny, flawless butt: Frank Benson’s “Juliana,” a sci-fi, Afro-futurist, hermaphroditic portrait of artist Juliana Huxtable. Her prints and poetry hang on a nearby wall. Her gaze is confident; her recline, too, seems purposeful. The artist does not, obviously, have green skin; this is just how she wants to be portrayed, imagining what beauty can be. The presentation, though, doesn’t diverge much from the already-known “hot alien” trope in sci-fi, or the classical reclining nude. No, we don’t all need to be covered up in a neck-to-toe robe like Princess Leia. But if the ideal is all surface—just body—that sounds like an ugly future. (Corinna)

Corinna: For several seconds, Ed Atkins’s video “Happy Birthday!!” (2014) lines up a particularly unsettling juxtaposition of the buttoned-up, American Psycho-type protagonist drowning in his own vomit while staring out at Juliana Huxtable’s futuristic portrait. He’s tortured by anxiety, she’s confident in the digital.

Nadim Abbas, Chamber 665 “Spielberg,” 2014/2015

Corinna: I had a lot of fun with Abbas’s three chambers. You can stick your hands inside the thick black gloves and move objects around. This one has geometric objects, some that look like chromosomes, that you can stack atop each other. Another room has toilet paper rolls you can throw around. It’s still an absolutely deadpan vision of a sci-fi future; the chambers remain uninhabited.

Josh Kline, “Freedom,” 2015

Corinna: Everyone’s already talking about Josh Kline’s Teletubby SWAT team. Four Teletubbies play videos of former police officers reciting recent news items (including their URLs); “Hope and Change,” a video of professional Obama-impersonator digitally altered to look like a Teletubby—that’s what I think, although mostly Obama looks like he’s made to have big, anime eyes—recites the 2009 Inaugural Address; and a cell-phone tower transformed into a tree with credit-card leaves. Nobody can fault Kline’s work for being insular, though I’m not sure what exactly Kline is targeting with his vision of a Teletubby alternate reality. It’s worth another outing to the New Museum.

Paddy: How is this work insular? To my mind, piece is a visual representation of the online identity: constructed, but incomplete. Obama, plays the role of the puppet. Communication is funded by our own debt, and that reality is hidden from us. It’s not even that far from reality; there are actual cell phone towers that are disguised as trees on the highway. They look weird, but I’m glad someone thought that we might not want to look at ugly towers on our commute.

Anyway, I thought this was one of the best works in the show. It’s a really smart visual representation of how we experience the digital world.

Corinna: Ooops. Not sure if I was clear enough. I meant that relative to other works in the show that seem to fetishize materials, especially in regards to painting—like Olga Balema’s water-filled sculpture-paintings, Eloise Hawser’s lithographic-plate paintings, or Jose Leon Cerrillo’s empty-frame paintings— Kline’s work is the least insular, least navel gaze-y work in the show.

You don’t need an art degree to get something out of it. I could bring a group of school children, the guy that runs my bodega, or one of my sisters to the exhibition and they’d probably have a lot to say about this work. Like you mentioned in your artnet News essay, “the exhibition takes a look at how technology affects us, a focus that mercifully puts a plug in New York’s seemingly endless supply of non-objective abstraction.” That’s true. It’s been a long time since I walked into the New Museum and didn’t feel like the majority of the works were made for an art fair. (Though, no doubt, squiggles, classical Greek collage, and pretty paintings all made an appearance.)

Corinna: Just wanted to point out a dildo. A funky dildo that works best while dancing?

Several works by Eloise Hawser

Corinna: Paddy and I were chatting about how some of the least convincing themes set forth in this exhibition are also the quietest. For one, there’s a process-based nostalgia, involving the reuse of everyday or antiquated tech. This cube, Eloise Hawser’s “Untitled” (2014), a crushed lithographic plate, annoys me more than any other work in the exhibition. Hawser rescued previously used lithographic plates—some used in advertising—from the trash bin. Their fate, as a technology made obsolete, has been “redeemed” through a transformation into art. Turning trash into a Minimalist cube is not redemption. It’s like melting down old vinyl records to turn them into bowls, except that Hawser’s lithographic plates remain useless. In fact, the plates are doubly useless; first, trash, second, art.

Close-up: Sascha Braunig, “Strider,” 2014

Corinna: We’ve reviewed Sascha Braunig’s surrealist, op-art panels on the blog before, back in 2013. We liked them, but we noted that “up-close, some of the paintings are less elegant and detailed,” and that while “the melding of genres is successful…there’s room for improvement.” In general, the Triennial has very little in the way of painting; that’s one reason why Braunig’s panels, despite their smallish scale (two feet wide or less), stand out. They do relate to one of the Triennial’s themes, of sci-fi as a tactic of distorting, changing, (or queering) the human body.

Corinna: I overheard a woman, a collector, probably, discussing the lighting on the Braunig works. As you can tell, there’s no direct lighting on the work; the purples and pinks emanating off of Antoine Catala’s “Distant Feel” (2015) light up the painting. The collector liked the current lighting situation; I have to agree. Braunig’s sometimes distractingly detailed brushwork gets drowned out under the fish tank’s glow, giving off the impression of digital mastery.

Paddy: I dunno about that. The color in this work is actually pretty important, and that’s compromised by placing these works beside a bunch of purple lights. I do agree with you that the brushwork benefits from this lighting—she’s skilled, but not painting at a John Currin level—and I actually appreciate seeing the inconsistency. It’s good to know a human painted these pieces.

Corinna: About Antoine Catala’s “Distant Feel,” the “3E” is supposed to be a new symbol for empathy. With our country, and world, suffering from Ferguson, income inequality, and all other forms of political division, we could all use some more empathy. But will “3E” catch on in cultural parlance, like the peace sign ( ☮ )? Maybe, but only if Catala takes it out of the gallery, and creates a viral marketing campaign, or at the very least a hashtag. Otherwise, it’ll be just another luminous effort, left to spend its life alone in a gallery.

Paddy: Did Catala’s work remind you at all of Glenn Kaino at Prospect.3? I mean, there are differences for sure. Kaino was growing coral and referencing the military habit of dumping decommissioned gear in the ocean. This is supposed to be an advertising campaign with no product except feeling submerged in a fish tank with coral. Other artists who work with ads: The Propeller Group’s proposed ad for the Super Bowl (though it promoted a message—“new communism.”) Other artists who work with logos: Cloaque. Both use two letters, one of which is reoriented to create a logo. I’d take Cloaque and The Propeller Group over Catala. It’s more directed, which I think is important for an ad campaign. I didn’t walk away with any special “feeling”—I barely remember the piece at all—so I don’t think it achieved its goals.

Njideka Akunyili Crosby, “Thread,” 2012

Corinna: Nice use of materials going into the skin and fabric patterns here.

Paddy: Not sure if you caught Geumhyung Jeong’s “Fitness Guide” but what a good inclusion! In this video she graphs heads onto various exercise machines. Here, you can see her on a stairmaster working—she looks like she’s trying to catch up with the head. Very funny, and kinda overlooked in this show. She’s right behind Guan Xiao’s Instagram friendly installation which lays out sculptures made of camera parts, snakes, and ancient heads on patterned backdrops. It gets lost.

Corinna:Unsurprisingly, I overlooked this work. Why? Because it was on a standard-size TV monitor in a corner.

Paddy: I can appreciate the desire to include a comedian in the show, but why not someone who’s actually funny? Jayson Musson’s Hennessy Youngman is a pretty good example of that. Casey Jane Ellison’s skits look like they’re still in progress; they aren’t funny. Her stand-up routine, delivered by a 3D-rendered, animated self-portrait, begins with an explanation that she grew up privileged and now has a fear of growing bald.

“I saw a wave of fear [amongst the women] in the room [audience],” she observes after having divulged her secret. “Are there people who have that fear? Because we’re not fucking talking about YOU here.”

That’s pretty much the best joke that gets told, and it’s not that funny, and it’s cliche comedy to boot. The show is a series of female anxiety jokes about her fake husband and choice to wear eggplant lipstick that culminates in the false proclamation that she loves the audience. Meh.

]]>http://artfcity.com/2015/02/26/notes-on-the-2015-triennial-surround-audience/feed/6Thursday Links: A History of Dicks + The Future of Head Transplantshttp://artfcity.com/2015/02/26/thursday-links-a-history-of-dicks-the-future-of-head-transplants/
http://artfcity.com/2015/02/26/thursday-links-a-history-of-dicks-the-future-of-head-transplants/#commentsThu, 26 Feb 2015 15:09:23 +0000http://artfcity.com/?p=71291 Via: Freeze_de instagram. So good.[/caption]

In 2017, the sci-fi future will have arrived. That’s when human head transplants will be possible, says one Dr. Sergio Canavero. Likely the cost of a transplant will be around $13 million. [Quartz]

Which means that Mr. Burns will be able to afford one. [Simpsons Wiki]

A protest banner in an Oscar Murillo was removed by a museum security guard. The Centro Cultural Daoiz y Velarde in Madrid took seven years to build and cost 13 million. That pissed some people off, thus the signs. Murillo decided to integrate that into his work. [Artnet]

Patrick Schumacher, director of Zaha Hadid Architects, wants to get rid of public funding for art schools. "Public funding for art, including public funding for art schools is an indefensible anachronism," he writes on Facebook. "Schools of art are not justifiable by argument, because contemporary art is not justifiable by argument." Schumacher does not go into defining what a ‘justifiable by argument’ for an academic course would be, so we can’t take his statements too seriously. [Dezeen]

Brian Eno on digital music making tools and the question of whether every imperfect note should be retuned. [The Vinyl Factory]

In 2017, the sci-fi future will have arrived. That’s when human head transplants will be possible, says one Dr. Sergio Canavero. Likely the cost of a transplant will be around $13 million. [Quartz]

Which means that Mr. Burns will be able to afford one. [Simpsons Wiki]

A protest banner in an Oscar Murillo was removed by a museum security guard. The Centro Cultural Daoiz y Velarde in Madrid took seven years to build and cost 13 million. That pissed some people off, thus the signs. Murillo decided to integrate that into his work. [Artnet]

Patrick Schumacher, director of Zaha Hadid Architects, wants to get rid of public funding for art schools. “Public funding for art, including public funding for art schools is an indefensible anachronism,” he writes on Facebook. “Schools of art are not justifiable by argument, because contemporary art is not justifiable by argument.” Schumacher does not go into defining what a ‘justifiable by argument’ for an academic course would be, so we can’t take his statements too seriously. [Dezeen]

Brian Eno on digital music making tools and the question of whether every imperfect note should be retuned. [The Vinyl Factory]